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JPL Team Honored With NASA's Software of the Year Award

On the left, Resolute Bay seen by the Hyperion instrument aboard Earth Observing-1. On the right, a visual representation of the analysis done by JPL's Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment software.

Software developed by a team of engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has been selected to receive NASA's
Software of the Year Award. The Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment
software helps scientists monitor environmental events on Earth,
such as volcanic eruptions, floods and wildfires.

The Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment is a new approach to space
exploration. Instead of relying on commands from the ground, it allows
a spacecraft to respond autonomously to detected science events.
By making decisions onboard, the spacecraft can respond rapidly to
the event and then relay information and images to scientists. The
software has been successfully used on NASA's Earth Observing One
mission to acquire over 3,000 images.

"The software has exceeded all of our expectations," said Dr. Steve
Chien, JPL principal investigator for the Autonomous Sciencecraft
Experiment. "The software has been used to operate Earth Observing
One for over a year. Future missions can use this technology to capture
dynamic science events such as dust devils and dust storms on Mars or
comet outbursts."

A team from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., was
also honored with a NASA Software of the Year Award for their Land
Information Systems software.

NASA started the competition in 1994, designed to reward outstanding
software at the agency, as measured by the following criteria:

-- The science and technology significance of the software and its
impact on NASA's mission
-- The extent of current and potential use
-- The usability of the software
-- The quality factors considered in the software
,br/>-- Intellectual property factors such as patents and copyrights
-- Innovation of the software

Software eligible for this award must have NASA intellectual property
interest, be of commercial grade, and be available to appropriate commercial
users or dedicated to a NASA mission.

NASA's New Millennium Program developed the software and is responsible for
testing new technologies in space.